Jack of all Trades...

[couch]

Master of none?

For anyone interested in talking about this absorb what is useful and reject what is useless stuff, I have a question that is 'serious' to me:
It can take many years to learn any one 'style' or idea of a 'system.' So at what point do you become a master of none because of the dabbling? How do absorb what is useful in the least amount of time? Is it my 'traditional' view of the martial arts systems that isn't letting me see the forest for the trees?

It's a very interesting concept that Bruce was talking about. After really trying to get to the heart of the matter, I realized how cultish my past clubs have been. Also, how boxed in I've become in not being able to think for myself either because of club rules or even individual martial style theories. My own thoughts seem to go against everything I've been taught. Personal growth is very hard to do after 11 years of not being allowed to think for myself!!!

Please discuss,
Kenton Sefcik

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

A student that trains well and loyally in a system should be allowed to experience as much as they can.. most schools confine the student's experience to keep the revenue in their own pockets.. If the primary school is strong and authentic they have nothing to fear from a student's adventures into other styles. No single system has all the answers.

Be well...

[wei wu wei]

i understand the 'absorb what is useful' quote to indicate that the paradigm within which a person trains is a personal one.

truth manifested in the particular movement of the participant is personal to him alone. my truth is particular to me, yours to you.

so, the journey is individual. i must find my own truth, you must find yours. my 'truth' is the expression of movement within the paradigm of Wing Chun but with the freedom to express myself individually.

similarly, by recognising the problem with the current mode of training one is taking a step in the correct direction. by being able to recognise time as having been for example, with art 'A', i am then allowing myself the freedom to break away and venture elsewhere to continue the process of self discovery.

by constantly evaluating what is being learnt and its worth, you are in essence abosrbing that which is useful to you, and you alone. once it no longer serves its purpose, you move on. therefore absorbing what is useful, more often that not, requires you to move out of your comfort zone.

in short, the paradigm you choose may prove effective for you as a participant however, the same paradigm may not work as effectively for me.

unfortunately in this era of the 'one shoe fits all' Gung Fu, the valuable lesson of rejecting what is useless often lost in favour of masters of bull**** and their flocks of sheep.

[wingchun187]

copied from my other reply.........i started training jkd in michigan in 1995 with my brother and found a great jkd school in 1997 i loved the wing chun and the submition wrestling i moved to florida in 2000 and sence then i stuck with a great wing chun school that does ground and standup fighting and i found my home here ....i give thanks to my old jkd school and friends back in michigan but for me wing chun is the what i needed in my martial arts journey and still train daily
if anyone needs a training place when visiting south florida ...e mail me for info wingchun313@yahoo.com

[Dark Knight]

The origional question is a good one.

You should add to what you have as time goes by, but you should have a base that you are adding to. For some its WC, that is their strong point then they continue to improve it while adding more information.

If you had a base of BJJ, then supplimented it with WC, or MT or boxing, you are adding other strong attributes to your base.

But if you have three months of WC, two months of TKD, a bunch of videos of boxing, .... you never have a strong base.